Signifying Everything

Anti-Nuclear or Peace Sign. Designed in 1958 and based on the semaphore signals for letters N & D. Created by Harvard Physics and History of Science professor Gerald Holton it first appeared at the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) march from Aldermaston to London in February 1958. It then spread to the U.S. when an American student who was on the March took a bag of the badges back home. Blogspot from 2008 celebrating 50th birthday.

Responding (2)

Original CND badges were made of white and black clay and came with a little slip of paper explaining that in the event of all-out nuclear holocaust, the badges would be one of the few human-made symbols to survive.

16 August 2010 at 4:55 pm

Louise says:

The peace symbol seemed to disappear from UK culture for a while, although remaining more visible in the US. But it seems to making a comeback in the UK at the moment – I’ve seen it on t-shirts and as a lucky charm on bracelets. Although whether emergently meaningful or just this season’s fashion, who can tell?